Jan 22, 2017

After sleeping late, but not really sleeping in since we went to bed at 3am, we got up wanting pancakes. We found a quick and easy recipe and (mostly Becca) cooked up some blueberry flapjacks. I cut the perfect square of butter for the photo so I helped. It was just what I wanted for breakfast while we watched some Love. Becca had to go to a child's birthday party so I worked on photos and just hung out.

Even though it was dreary and misty out all day we decided to go for a run at Parvin. It ended up being great. We ran a little over 4 miles, partially in mud, but if it wasn't for the darkness and other obligations we would have run farther. I felt great. When we got back I devised a way to record Becca's class so she could do it later. I spent time editing and she studied for a while. We watched another episode of Love and then I headed home to do laundry and get to bed.

Jan 21, 2017

We started the day with yoga at Heart Beet Kitchen. April was our instructor and we did a great flow class with some poses I couldn't quite hold, but I enjoyed it all. I was feeling the squats immediately afterward, and after smelling the delicious food the whole time we finally got to the real reason we got up at 7:30am on a Saturday to drive an hour: the BLT. And it was worth it.

We came home and spent the rainy afternoon working on our respective things at home. Becca studied and worked on flash cards while I went through photos and did a lot of editing. The cats helped by sitting on us randomly.

I picked up Chuck and we headed to Cape May Brewery where Tracy and Mike and met us a short time later. We did a couple flights to try the handful of beers we hadn't had before. The Erosion sour was pretty good, but not as tart as the Corrosion. The Snag & Drop double IPA was really good, and there was a mixed berry pale ale that we all agreed tasted like Fruity Pebbles.

We went to drinking pints because we never do that and we know what we like now. We alternated getting the Three Plows IPA and the Corrosion. It's a really interesting story; just ask Chuck. We discussed our differing definitions of ski trail difficulty while we tried to come up with a plan to go skiing soon. After one last beer the place was closing down so we headed out.

We made a quick stop at the liquor store for Chuck to pick up a 6-pack of the Cape May King Stomp Porter that he was enjoying at the brewery and then headed back to Becca's to play Wii for a bit. We started playing Mario 1 on the emulator, but we quickly decided to move to Super Mario World.

It became clear that we were getting through the game tonight by playing all the levels. Chuck and I debated the point of the game, where I believe it's to spend time and enjoy it, he kept saying he could just use the warp to get to the end faster. It was a good semi-drunk discussion. There were some levels that seemed much harder than they should have. By the time we were done it was really late so I took him home and came back to get to bed.

Jan 20, 2017

I woke up feeling surprisingly good, but I hit construction and got behind a school bus on my way to work at Vineland Memorial so I got there a little late. Luckily I was still very early for the meetings and I had a very easy day where I got a lot of file organization done on my hard drive. The worst part was when I was in for the gym teacher. The classes were huge and incredibly loud.

After being home for a bit and stopping at Becca's for a short time I headed to the Fillmore again for Frank Turner. He started the set with his new song "Sand in the Gears" which is about standing up for what you believe in and fighting back even more for the next four years under the new president who was inaugurated today. It was a perfect day to see Frank and hear that. "Let's be the sand in the gears for the next four years."

The rest of the set was perfect as The Sleeping Souls joined him. As always it was energetic, hilarious, and heartfelt. I was closer to the back of the crowd for the show and halfway through Staci found me so we got to hang out and dance with the one other person in that area that was dancing around having a good time. I always feel great after leaving a Frank Turner show.

Jan 19, 2017

I lay in bed for a while in the morning after waking up early enjoying the morning and watching some shows before finally accepting a job around 9am. I worked at Bacon School in a resource room, and it was an easy day. Dave came over, we picked up Tracy and Christie then met Chuck at Barnes & Noble to head to Barcade. We got some good beers before Tracy and Christie headed to the Fillmore for Anti-Flag.

Dave, Chuck, and I stuck around and played some games and had some more beers. We played Mortal Kombat and Double Dragon, and I played a little Ms. Pac-Man. I drank a couple more beers quickly before leaving and I was feeling good for the Reel Big Fish.

We got into the Fillmore just as the Fish were playing their first song and we headed up front. They played a few songs before getting into playing Turn the Radio Off in its entirety.

Dave and I had a good time dancing for most of the show. I went over and danced with Chuck a little bit on the fringe of the pit. It was an appropriately long set and it was a ton of fun. I really like that they put the full album in the middle of two other little sets.

Jan 18, 2017

I worked CST meetings at Memorial for the first part of the day. I was in the gym for Kessler for the whole time. Adrian was subbing also and we got to talk during one class which helped it go by quickly. There was a lot of little off time, but I went home at noon since Kessler had off afterward. I went to get my thumb x-ray at CDI later and had to sit and wait for a while. I watched Obama's last press conference in the waiting room.

I met Becca at Parvin for a run since the rain had stopped and it was relatively warm. I ran in shorts and t-shirt and I felt really good the whole time. I ran an 8:14 pace which made me happy. I want to get back into running longer and faster.

We got showered and headed to The Abbaye for Sterling Pig's U Buy the Glass Night. We started with the Shoat Pilsner and Pata Negra, both of which were really good. The Simcoe IPA, Saison du Cochon, and Piggy Stardust tripel were all good as well. Our waiter was awkward, but nice, and he kept commenting on the fact that we didn't want whichever beer he brought over in the pitcher. Becca and I shared the wings and a cheesesteak, both as good as always. It was nice sharing it and not feeling like I had to finish the sandwich or pick one of the two. The best part of the evening was Jorge walking by at the end with a pitcher, pointed at Becca's glass then to her, raised his eyebrows, then made the cut off sign with his hand across his neck. It was silently hilarious.

Jan 17, 2017

I took my computer and hard drive to work and spent the day editing photos from the weekend. The Spanish teacher I was in for didn't leave anything for the students to do so I didn't bother putting in any effort either. I let them do whatever they wanted while I did what I wanted.

I went to the doctor after work for my thumb. It was the total opposite of last time. I got in really quickly. I met my mom for dinner at Kawa and had some delicious yellow curry then went next door to Yogo for some dessert. I went home and relaxed and got to bed early again.

Jan 16, 2017

We got up and made our way to Cornell University for sunrise. It's a gorgeous campus with historic buildings and great views of the town. We wandered around for the better part of an hour checking out the architecture and admiring the light as it appeared on the brick facade of the tower. Another nice start to a day and a good walk on the hilly grounds.

We had about two hours of driving down to Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. The trail was immediately icy, but this time there was a lot of snow to go along with it. The gorge trail was marked to stay off unless we had proper gear like crampons and axes, but we felt like we would be fine and could make the decision to turn back if it seemed dangerous.

The waterfalls were insanely beautiful covered in snow and ice. I can't believe I've never come here in winter before. This is another example of a place I didn't think could get any more beautiful, but here I am proved wrong again. We spent a lot of time at each set of falls admiring and photographing them from different angles.

The trail did end up getting a little precarious at times, but we both made it without incident. I am impressed even more with the Yaktrax after this. We decided to do the whole loop, which probably made it about 6 miles total, but it definitely didn't feel that long with so much to see.

Toward the end we were able to get behind this waterfall that was almost totally frozen over. The view from behind the ice looking down on the glen was so amazingly unique. We couldn't have been happier to get to see all of this.

Sadly we had to leave eventually, but some cake batter/chocolate twist from Vegan Treats cheered us up. We sat there eating the ice cream that the guy "poured too high" which we both agreed wasn't possible and no one would ever care. It was delicious and we each picked up another little treat for later. The drive home seemed super long in traffic and we stopped at Trader Joe's in Philly for groceries before heading back home. Just grocery shopping on the weekend like average people.